Conventional news organizations follow a simple protocol in pursuing this week’s WikiLeaks dump of alleged CIA documents about tools to hack into computers, smartphones and the like. Just open up the documents, read them, consult with experts and perhaps write up an article or two.
That process doesn’t proceed quite as smoothly at the Voice of America (VOA), the government-funded news outlet that launched in 1942 “to combat Nazi propaganda with accurate and unbiased news and information.” Journalists at VOA work on government computers, an arrangement that creates some problems when viewing classified information, whether or not that classified information has been leaked to the whole world. “Even if classified documents are leaked and thus in the public domain, they have not yet been declassified. Because we’re a federal agency, these laws and rules [apply] to us,” wrote VOA Director Amanda Bennett in a Wednesday memo to VOA staffers.
